Create a Marketing Plan & Grow Your Standout Business

Find The Customers You Need to Reach Your Goal

Create a Marketing Plan & Grow Your Standout Business

Lesson 26 of 35

Find The Customers You Need to Reach Your Goal

Lesson Info

Find The Customers You Need to Reach Your Goal

All of the hard work that we did in first about five, six lessons is really paying off now. Things are comin' together really fast, and it's gonna come together even faster as we head into the next few lessons. But for now, we are on lesson nine and finding the customers that you need to reach your goal. Because that's what we all want, right? And we wanna hit our sales goals. We wanna hit our targets. Now, remember that marketing is easier when you reverse engineer the process. There is no more trying to figure out from start to finish what people want, what's going to work. We're gonna start with something we feel really confident in, a sales page that feels like, "Yeah, people are gonna buy this." And then work backwards from there to figure out how to get the right people to that sales page. That's what we did in the last lesson. Now, we need to find those eyeballs. Who are going to be the people that need to see that sales page that are gonna turn out to be the perfect customers f...

or us. Well, we do that with lead generation. Lead generation is the process of finding the right people, the people who are going to be the people who are most likely to buy what it is that you're selling. Not everybody on your list. Not everybody in the world. Not everybody in your industry. Just the right people for you and your offer and your product or your service. Sound good? (audience agreeing) So, you've seen this chart an awful lot. Different people think about different, their problem or their need in different ways. Where does lead generation come in this process? The sales page came in the product-aware part of the spectrum. Lead generation tends to happen in the problem-aware and solution-aware part of the spectrum. You can go either direction, but that's where lead generation tends to start. So, that's where we are in terms of kind of orienting yourself on that customer awareness spectrum. To truly generate a high-quality lead, they need to be at least problem-aware. They might be solution-aware, alright? You can't get great leads from unaware people. They don't know what they need yet so they can't tell you they're a great customer for you. So, they have to be in that problem-aware or solution-aware part of the spectrum. And like I said, offers aren't for everyone. They're not for everyone in your industry. They're not even for everyone in your audience, okay? What you're selling is not necessarily right for everyone that's on your email list or who's liked your Facebook page or who's listened to your podcast. It's not just that those people, not all of those people are going to buy, it's that the offer isn't right for everyone in that list. That's a huge like mindset shift to make. It's a huge "A-ha" moment to have. Because when you realize that, you can concentrate your effort on who the right people are. But how do you find who your product or service is right for? Who do you find, the right people? That's the lead generation process. I talked about this a little bit in a previous lesson, but I wanna come back to it for a moment. There has been so much talk about list-building, especially in the online business space, but really in every single business space. Build your email list, build your email list, build your email list. And the difference from where when I started 9 years ago to where we are now with all the tactics, and tricks, and methods for getting people onto your email list is immense. And so now, you may have this kind of tool kit or tool belt of ideas of how you can get people onto your list. Maybe you do weekly webinars. Maybe you have a call to action at the end of your podcast episode every week that gets people to download a freebie. Maybe you do content upgrades at the end of your blog posts. Maybe you run free challenges, free courses. Oh, my Lord, you would probably have list-building tactics comin' out the wazoo. (lauging) Right? (audience laughing) Some of them have worked for you. Some of them haven't worked for you. But I bet every time you're thinking about those list-building tactics, the way you're measuring their success is by how many new subscribers you get. The difference between list-building and lead generation is that when we're talking about lead generation, my metric of success is not how many leads I have, not how many new subscribers I have, not how many webinar registrants I have. My metric of success is how many customers I have. How many people decided, using this particular tactic, this particular strategy, how many of those people decided this product was right for them? That's the difference. I want you to stop spending so much time on list-building that's just focused on your subscriber count, and start focusing on lead generation that's focused on your customer count. And that's what we're gonna really break down today. I'm not saying that doing general list-building, building your audience, building the amount of contacts in your system is a bad thing. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that. You want to add to your audience. You wanna add to your lists. You wanna add to the number of people who are inviting your emails and your communications into their inbox every week or every day. But at the same time, you really need to put your effort on finding customers, and you find customers by finding real leads, alright? And it's not real lead generation until someone takes an action, not just signing up for your lists but taking action beyond that. Signing up for a webinar, attending a webinar, Signing up for a wait list, saying, "Hey, let me know when this is available." So, stop thinking about subscriber count as the ultimate action that predicts your success, and start thinking about these secondary actions, these actions that maybe happen a little bit later on in the customer relationship or customer development process. And it might be the first action that someone takes with you, but it's that core action that actually says, "This is for me. "I have this problem, I have this need. "I'm looking for the solution." Those are the kinds of actions you need to get, put more effort into getting from the people who are paying attention. Does that make sense, the difference between list-building and lead generation? Like I said, your goal is to get the right people to raise their hands and say, "Me, I want that." So, you do you find genuine leads for your offer? Well, there's a bunch of different ways you can do it. So, just like there's all sorts of different tactics you can use for list-building, there's all sorts of different tactics you can use for lead generation. The good news is there's a lot of overlap. It's just in how you use these tactics. So, you don't have to learn how to do something new. You just have to learn how to use what you're already doing much more effectively. Hopefully, that's a theme that you've picked up on throughout this course is I'm not asking you to do more. I'm asking you to do what you're doing more effectively, more strategically. So, first, I've mentioned webinars a lot. Webinars are an incredibly effective way at gathering leads. Why? Because when you have a webinar, you're generally saying, "Hey, have this problem? "I'd like to help you fix it." Or, "Hey, looking for the solution? "I'd like to share part of mine." And when you do that on a webinar, registration page with your headline, when you're asking people to sign up for something like that, they're raising their hand and saying, "Me." Even more so if they actually make the time and show up. So, you get two actions for the price of one. Someone asked about quizzes yesterday. Quizzes are another way that you can gather leads. I'm gonna show you a really great example of that in a little bit. Wait lists, sort of the ultimate lead generator. If you can ask, if someone can say, "Hey, when that's finally ready, I'd like to hear about it." (laughing) That's a really obvious cue that they're a likely buyer. Another one is courses. That could be free courses, or it could be paid courses. Sometimes lead generation is a revenue stream. You can actually get people to pay you when they say, "Me, I might want that other thing that "you have to offer, first I'm gonna buy this thing." So, that's why it says "courses" and not "free courses." Free courses are great for lead generation. Paid courses are also great for lead generation. Again, the reason why a course works so well here is because your tying it to the particular problem that you're solving or the particular solution that you're offering later on down the line in your product. So, it's a clear path. Free consultations or paid consultations. I know Lacey does paid consultations, where she actually has people pay her to do a consultation. Those people become the very, very, very, very best leads then that she has for her agency, where people pay her on a monthly basis and Lacey's team of writers do the work for them. So, her lead generation is also a key revenue stream for her, right? It works very well, very nicely. How many of you do free consultations? A bunch of you do free consultations for leads as well. Same idea, you're inviting people in around a particular problem that they have or a particular desired outcome that they want or a particular solution. And then you're selling them the, you're selling them up on that, right? You give them some value in that initial consultation, and then you say, "Hey, if that worked for you, "I'd love to show you how I can offer you more as well." Events, getting people to come to a workshop, getting people to tune in for an event online. That also works really well, very similar to webinars. Challenges, that's become very big lately. Challenges work really well when they're not done in isolation, but instead are done around a particular problem that you solve with your offer, a particular solution that you're offering in your offer. And then finally, demos, demonstrations. This works really well if you've got kind of a software-based business, but it can work really well outside of that process too. What would it look like for you to put together as a service-based business a demo of how you've worked with a particular customer? Think of that like almost in terms of a case study. You can demonstrate what the process looked like with one of your best clients so that you can invite 10, 20, 30 high-quality leads to walk through that process with you. And by the end, be ready to open up their wallet and be ready to buy. Make sense? Alright. So, these are, this is not a all-inclusive list. This is just the things that I see being most commonly used well to generate real leads for a campaign. Let's look at some of these things in action though. Mentioned quizzes. This is our friend Madison Reed again (laughing). That's become our example of choice. But they have a really cool quiz where they help you find the right shade of color to purchase from them. So, again, this is a quiz that is giving people information that they need in order to buy your product, which means by taking the quiz you're essentially saying, "Me, I'm very interested "in this, and I just need one more piece of information." Yesterday, I mentioned the Care/of Supplement Company as well. They have a very similar quiz for helping you figure out what supplements you should be taking. And then, of course, it takes you straight to a checkout page. There's not product description. There's no sales page. It goes quiz, recommendation, checkout, brilliant. (audience laughing) I didn't actually take this one so I don't know. Maybe Madison Reed does it the exact same way, but I was like, "Oh, that is so good. "I'm so sharing that with everybody." This is another go-to example for me. I love the ladies behind Brass Clothing. It's brassclothing.com, and they have just a super customer-oriented, e-commerce, minimalistic, capsule wardrobe fashion line. And here, you can see they have a, maybe not so hot, action of join our newsletter, but here's what makes this lead generation instead of list-building. It says, "Say hello to closet freedom. "Start building the perfect wardrobe "with $10 off your first order." Who cares about $10 off their first order? Leads (laughing). People who are actually going to buy, that's who cares about discounts. So, again, if you have a product-based business, don't overthink this whole lead generation piece. You can, there are fun, creative, innovative things that you can do with lead generation. But offering a discount or free shipping or an added on product to sign up for the email list, that's a great way to generate real, high-quality leads. Because the people who sign up for that are people who are planning on buying. They're saying, "I want that." That is a lead not just a subscriber, okay? Here's one of our examples. This is a webinar we did a couple of weeks ago to drive membership to co-commercial. Here, we were talking about leadership. And here we were really talking about a desired outcome that people have so the headline is "The Secret of Standing Out, "Getting Noticed, and Taking the Lead." We really focused this on that kind of solution-oriented or sort of in between the problem-oriented and solution-oriented phase. They know they have a problem. It's not getting noticed, not getting the attention that they want. We're starting to share the solution with them. And so, with that, asking people to save their spot, to RSVP for that webinar, that's the action that turns them into leads. This was a really, really successful campaign for us. One more example, this is from Simple Green Smoothies. And this is for their free seven day challenge so this is another example of something a little bit different. The headline here being "Simple 7, "Your kick start to healthy habits." So, very outcome-oriented here. "I want more healthy habits in my life. "I wanna feel good. "I wanna look like that. "I wanna be the kind of person "that drinks green smoothies day in and day out for seven days straight." The kind of person that's gonna sign up for that is the kind of person that's going to be much more likely to go on to be a customer for them later on. Make sense? Great. Now, individually, each one of these examples is not necessarily lead generation. It becomes lead generation when it's attached to the conversion part of the campaign. Each one of these examples ties directly in to the sales message that you already have created. That's why we start with the sales message. So, when you're thinking about lead generation and what you're going to do, you wanna start with that sales message and then just back up a step. What would be the thing immediately before that sales message, that pitch, that someone would need to recognize, get comfortable with, learn, experience, do, see for themselves, that would make it more likely that the sales message is gonna resonate with them? So, you start with the sales message, you back up one step, and you craft your lead generation event, action, opportunity around that. To get even more specific on that, the right people are most likely to respond to a problem that they recognize, something that they say, "Yeah, this is a problem "I need to solve. "Don't know how to solve it yet, "but I really need a solution to this." Or a solution that they desperately want. You know, something that would just make their life so much easier. They've realized that the problem, in fact, has a solution, and now they're trying to figure out which is the right solution for them. Now, if problem and solution are the keys to figuring out what your lead generation event or action is going to be, we can look to our building blocks, and look to block #1 and block # for some cues on what that lead generation event might be. Now, I don't want you guys to get hooked on or kind of stuck on choosing the right kind of lead generation event. I don't want you to think, "Well, I need a free consultation. "I need a webinar, I need a challenge, "I need a free course." That's the second step. First, go back to your building blocks, and think about, "What's that itch "they're constantly trying to scratch? "What's that problem that they have? What is something in their before that's especially nagging to them? Or what's something in their after that's especially compelling to them? What is that ultimate goal that they're really aiming for? Choose that one thing first, and then figure out, "Is a webinar "the best way to approach that? "Is a wait list the best way to approach that? "Is a quiz the best way to approach that?" So, start with the compelling thing first, and then figure out what it's going to look like. Okay, so again, we're reverse engineering things. We don't start with the webinar and then figure out what the webinar's gonna be on. We start with the compelling piece of the message, the thing that's actually gonna get people to take action. And then we decide, "Is this a webinar? "Is it a quiz, is it a free course?" Okay, all on the same page still? Alright, so again, you're gonna use a specific problem or solution to get the attention of the right people. This is all about getting people's attention. That's why we start with the compelling message. Just the way we started with the compelling message and headline with the sales page, it's the same thing with the lead generation offer. There needs to be a compelling message and headline there as well.

Class Description

Marketing your small business can feel like throwing spaghetti at the proverbial wall.

You try all the things you’re “supposed" to do (blogging, making videos, posting to social media…) and you try to keep up with the “hot new trends” that promise to change the way customers find you.

You spend tons of time and energy—and probably some money too. And after all that…

You wonder whether it’s really paying off or not. Is your business really growing? Or is it just your workload…?

Marketing isn’t something you want to mess around with. You want confidence. You want to know it’s working. And, perhaps most importantly, you want to know exactly how you can accelerate your success once you get it right.

Most business owners lack 2 essential pieces of the marketing puzzle. These 2 missing pieces keep them from fully utilizing all the effort they’re already putting into marketing while also keeping them from discovering just how rewarding (and fun) marketing can be.

The first essential piece is a plan. That plan needs to help you be productive, efficient, and decisive. It can ever bring focus and clarity to the whole way your business operates. This class has that covered.

The second essential piece is a solid messaging foundation. The difference between your campaigns and the ones that really, truly pay off isn’t ad spend, hot new trends, or expertise—it’s a message that connects with exactly the right people. This class gives you a system for creating that message every single time.

Join bestselling Money & Life instructor and CoCommercial founder Tara Gentile for a 2-day class on creating the marketing foundation and plan you need to grow your standout business.

By the end of this class, you will be able to:

Build a year-long marketing calendar so you’re never caught off guard by your business’s marketing needs

Quickly and confidently prepare an effective marketing message for a product or service using a foundational set of building blocks that turn so-so campaigns into money-makers

Create a schedule and plan for your marketing campaign using multiple channels, such as email, social media, blogging, or video, so you know you’re getting your offers in front of the right people

Design a system for your marketing campaigns that can be optimized and automated so that you can spend less time on the hands-on work of marketing

Best of all, you’ll have a replicable system you can use for every campaign and every year to feel completely confident in your marketing.

Sharon

Tara, the information you delivered in this class is invaluable. I am in the launching stage of my business, and I know I need to market my business and services and I know I need to write a plan, but I didn't know how to do it. Instagram, content upgrades, Facebook, email marketing, webinars, blogging, etc. etc., I know it all. But I just couldn't get my head around how to truly use marketing campaigns for my business, and especially for my services, to reach my ideal client, help my ideal client and to reach my ideal income.
You explained the why behind marketing campaigns and you showed us how to create a marketing campaign from A to Z. The whole sha-bang!
You gave me the knowledge and inspiration in how to market my services, how many people I ideally want to reach and above all, a framework I can use time and time again to create a marketing campaign. I purchased the class right after seeing the live broadcast so I can use this class for planning all my next marketing campaigns. You clarified a lot and I am much more confident (and so much more less stressed haha) in creating a marketing campaign plan that works for my business and services. I learned a lot! Thank you! P.S. Love the hot seats.

Susan Best Jones

Tara, I love your creative live events I always learn so much and this time was the same. Perfect timing on this info, it is exactly what I need right now and I feel confident that I can do it! I joined CoCommercial and am excited about that. Thank you, Tara.

MaryAnn

This class is well worth the time! Tara does an excellent job of not only providing a step by step system for creating a marketing campaign, but she provides clear context and insights along the way. This is important so that you're not just going through the motions and crossing your fingers that your marketing will work. She helps you understand the strategy behind the scenes so you can get the most out of the work you put in. I highly recommend this course to anyone considering doing their own marketing, or people who are already doing their own marketing and want to feel more empowered and get better results.